German cuisine

It is October so I am going to have a bit of an Oktoberfest, the only problem with that is that is Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival held Munich starting in late September to the first weekend in October. So I am late, but to let me make up this month I will be concentrating of one of Europe over looked food cultures .

I don’t know about you but when I think of German food I think sausages and beer, But here is so much more to it , and for anyone who say German food has never take hold in the world imagination then I will raise you that in some respect it has taken over the world .

My logic for this are just two dishes, both strongly linked to the popular culture of the world, as the Italians gave the world pizza form Germany we got Hamburger and Hot dogs. Popularised in America, but now a global phenomenon.

The Hamburger has no ham in to but is all beef and get its name from Hamburg in Germany now many lay came to have invented it and variation thereof after but White Castle, to those who do not know the first fast food chain. It is known for its small, square hamburgers, traces the origin of the hamburger to Hamburg, Germany with its invention by Otto Kuase. As for hot dogs, Frankfurters, Frankfurts, franks, wieners, weenies or whatever you want to call them are defiantly German. They came from Frankfurt where a sausage served in a bun like a hot dogs originated.So you can take a snack and make it a global eating experience that if referenced throughout popular culture then surly the rest is well worth spending some time on as well.

And there is so much of it that only one month like most food cultures does not seem like enough time to think about it.  Take for instant one staple of most of western food bread or in German Brot.  You have to start with Rye-wheat or Roggenmischbrot, Toast bread  or Toastbrot, Whole-grain or Vollkornbrot, Wheat-rye or Weizenmischbrot, Weißbrot, Mehrkornbrot, Roggenbrot and Kürbiskernbrot to name a few . The well-known Pumpernickel, all sorts of bread using wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats, millet, corn, rice and evan potato starch flour. According to my research there are anything from 550 to 600 types of breads, 1000 and more types of pastries and rolls.

Add to that the cakes and tarts made with fresh fruits , the most well-known and  much maligned k. Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or black forest gateau to you and me. There are all sorts of tortes filled with whipped or butter cream, doughnuts with jam or other fillings, Eierkuchen or Pfannkuchen  wich are large thin pancakes covered with sugar, jam, syrup and savory one as well . Then there is Rote Grütze a red fruit pudding or Rhabarbergrütze a  rhubarb pudding, Grüne Grütze a gooseberry fruit pudding, as well as loads of Ice cream and sorbets , and Spaghettieis which looks like spaghetti but is an  ice cream dessert.

Then you have the region cuisine of  Bavarian, Lower Saxony, Ore Mountains and Thuringia to name a few that map the history of it people and the nation. How it’s food has been influenced by its borders with Austria, French, Italian, and Turkish cuisines.

You have German sausages and cheese, the love of pork, beef, chicken and game boar, rabbit, and venison.  A liking for fresh water fish trout, pike, carp and perch and from the northern coastal areas, herrings  pickled as Rollmops  or Brathering, a fried, marinated herring. All sorts of vegetables and potato dishes and Spätzle, a Noodle made from wheat flour and egg, It is not pasta.

And there is the beer and wine, and spirits. Beer is common in almost all parts of Germany and the variety is massive. Pale lager pilsener, wheat beer or Weißbier,  Altbier,  Kölsch, Weiße and from the old east Germany  Schwarzbier.  German wine predominantly from the  upper and middle Rhine well known for white wine, but asl have red wines as well such as  Spätburgunder and Dornfelder. As for the sweet wine sold here in England are rare in Germany. Then you have Schnaps but this is misleading as Schnaps refures to a range of drinks, Obstler distilled from apples and pears, Korn made from malt, wheat, rye or barley. And Kirschwasser made from plums and cherries.

There is a lot to talk about and a lot to do , I am sure I have already made some mistakes but never mind . For this month will be my blogs Oktoberfest as I look at all things German.